It was a System Breakdown Not Lax Gun Laws allowed the Batman Killer’s Weapon acquisitions

Aurora, CO.--James Holmes was more than a little disturbed.  We are learning that this troubled lad had raised numerous red flags to his mental condition that were ignored.

When a reporter initially contacted the suspect’s mother after the killings, she relayed that she knew her son was behind the massacre.  In the coming weeks we will find out that Holmes’ parents were desperately trying to get mental treatment for their son.

Holmes was a student in Colorado but a lawful resident of California.  That would have made any gun purchases in Colorado a federal felony crime.  The key evidence here was if he was paying his school out of state tuition fees.

When Holmes filled out the required FFL #4473 form for each firearm acquisition, he did not disclose his past mental health history as required.  Had he done so, the transfer would have been automatically denied. 

The FBI gun transfer instant background investigation failed to disclose his mental health history.  This is much more about the fight between mental patient privacy vs. public safety needs.  Mental health providers routinely withhold vital information from law enforcement, especially in California.

For authorities to say, “the firearms were purchased legally” was overly broad and way too premature.   It could be said that the dealers transferring the guns followed the law.  That’s just not the same thing. 

When Holmes attempted to join a gun club his obvious abnormal behavior was immediately noticed and his membership and dues payments were judiciously declined.

There was no oversight whatsoever of the sale oh his most deadly weapons.   Fortunately they were never successfully deployed.  They were the explosives.  By some miracle Holmes actually warned the police about how he his booby-trapped his apartment.

Explosives are nothing more than a mixture of relatively common chemicals and the connection of a detonation system.  With a little knowhow anyone can obtain and create explosives similar to what destroyed the Oklahoma Federal building.  Frankly there is no way to regulate the sale of bomb-making materials.  Police can only arrest after bombs are assembled and discovered or if a conspiracy to manufacture or use a bomb is somehow exposed.

The true status of the mental state of James Holmes will be made public in open court in the following weeks.  His only viable defense will be based on his inability to appreciate his conduct or to aid his lawyers.  Holmes has been living in a fictional comic book world envisioning himself as the master criminal known as the Joker.

Prosecutors will try and suggest that Holmes is legally sane and will argue the elaborate plans are proof that Holmes is competent.  That will be an uphill battle. 

At this juncture I’m convinced that James Holmes will not be standing trial but sent off for decades of rest and relaxation in a secure mental health facility.

As for this incident being the catalyst for revival of gun control efforts I’d say the public just got yet another sad but important education.  There has not been a mass shooting outside of a so-called Gun Free Zone in decades.  The public would much rather have had an armed George Zimmerman sitting in that theater audience than see so many innocents wounded and killed.

Americans have grown desperately tired of being forced to submit to thugs, rapists, robbers and killers without the ability to employ meaningful self-defense.  The false promise and abject failure of Gun Control has been exposed at every level.  We are also leaning that the long time and total civilian gun ban of Mexico has done absolutely nothing to prevent or even slow down the 50,000 murders there just last year.

Update:  The mother of James Holmes explained that some ABC producer quoted her incorrectly.  That makes perfect sense after the accused the killings on a Tea Party member with a similar name.